Inside media.

Harrelson did job perfectly

Mentioning Garcia's great effort essential

September 15, 2006|By Ed Sherman.

WGN-Ch. 9 and Ken Harrelson weren't about to accept the blame for Freddy Garcia losing his perfect-game bid on Wednesday.

There were complaints from some traditionalists that it was the broadcaster's fault, not Adam Kennedy's, that Garcia was denied a spot in baseball history. Harrelson and Ch. 9's crime? They put the hex on the White Sox pitcher by talking about a no-hitter in progress.

Harrelson noted in his usual animated way that Garcia was perfect through seven innings. WGN then flashed a graphic that read "Perfect game in progress."

Kennedy then ended the suspense with a two-out single in the eighth inning.

Did Harrelson and WGN violate baseball protocol? Hardly. They were just doing their jobs. Harrelson would have been wrong if he had treated the first two outs in the eighth as if they were routine in a one-sided game. Baseball's superstitions don't supercede telling the story.

"If I was in uniform, I wouldn't say anything [about the perfect game]," Harrelson said. "But I'm behind the microphone now. When you're an announcer, and you have people tuning in and out the way they do these days, you have to say, `Hey, there's something special going on here.' My wife called our nieces and told them to turn on the game."

Bob Vorwald, WGN's head of production, said it was the station's responsibility to use the perfect game graphic.

"What about the fan who was just getting home from work and tunes into the game?" Vorwald said. "If he only sees the score, he thinks, `It's just a shutout.' Don't we owe it to the fan to focus on what's going on? If one person turned away from the TV and didn't realize a no-hitter was in progress, I'd feel awful about it."

Vorwald also strongly disagreed Harrelson broke a baseball rule by talking about the perfect game.

"Harry Caray did it," Vorwald said. "Jack Brickhouse did it all the time. He always used the word no-hitter. It didn't stop Don Cardwell or Kenny Holtzman from pitching no-hitters. When ESPN cuts into their programming to show us Nolan Ryan's seventh no-hitter, are they violating a taboo? The notion that this is a sacred cow is totally untrue."

Harrelson had only one regret Wednesday: Garcia didn't get his perfect game.

"It's the first time in 30 years as an announcer that I called a game where a pitcher was perfect for seven innings," Harrelson said. "I really thought Freddy was going to do it."

Game on

Sox fans can relax. The team's game against Minnesota on Sept. 30 will be televised back to Chicago. The outlet still is to be determined, but Fox Sports likely will grab the game and air it locally on WFLD-Ch. 32.

That game has an 11:10 a.m. starting time because the University of Minnesota plays Michigan that night in the Metrodome. Originally the game was not going to be televised because of contractual issues with the various networks. Given its possible importance, Chicago fans will get it.

Wrapping up

The Bears get Sam Rosen and Tim Ryan again this week for their game against Detroit on WFLD-Ch. 32. . . . Thom Brennaman and Steve Lyons will be on the call for the Sox-Oakland game Saturday on Ch. 32. . . . The NFL Network has a neat feature this year. It's replaying four of the best games from the weekend Tuesday and Wednesday nights. Using an edited version of the original network broadcast, the complete game will run 90 minutes.